


A Human Baby

by KieraElieson



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Baby Deceit | Janus Sanders, Dryad Patton, Familiar Logan, Family Fluff, Fluff, Gen, Past Child Abuse, Spider Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Werewolf Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:01:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28322046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KieraElieson/pseuds/KieraElieson
Summary: Janus is a baby and the rest of the sides are *insert creature not human here* and they are protective and may or may not teach him some... unorthodox thing.
Relationships: Familial DLAMP - Relationship
Comments: 20
Kudos: 105
Collections: TSS Fanworks Collective





	A Human Baby

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kisafander](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kisafander/gifts).



> A gift for Katelynn-a-fan as a part of Sanderssidesgiftxchange on tumblr.

Roman let out a quiet sigh. Virgil hadn’t even said anything, but he could see his pinched, anxious look. “We’ll be fine.”

“I know we’ll be fine!” Virgil snapped, crossing his arms. “It’s just getting dark. And we don’t know what’s out here.”

“You’re the poisonous one! You don’t have to worry about anything.”

“Virgil is venomous,” Logan said calmly from his perch on one of the protruding spider legs on Virgil’s back. 

“Yeah,” Virgil muttered, a hand lifting to pet Logan, which Logan reluctantly permitted. 

Logan was, or rather had been, a witch’s familiar. After leaving the witch quite a few years ago, he had discovered Virgil, and stayed with him and Patton, and later, Roman as well. The witch still changed his shape every now and again in petty revenge for his choice to leave. As of a few days ago, he was in the form of a crow, though struggling somewhat to get used to it. 

Roman turned to look forward. He wasn’t terribly worried, but the growing dusk would be a problem soon, if only for visibility’s sake. And if the moon came out, that would probably be less, rather than more helpful, with as close to full as it was. He’d really rather not have to deal with shifting. 

But he’d been smelling odd things out here. And he couldn’t wait any longer to find out what was causing it, problems or no problems. 

“If we get home late Patton will be worried,” Virgil muttered grumpily. 

Roman heard a small sound, like something between a sigh and a quiet whine, and shushed Virgil. “It’s close now.”

The curiosity overrode the embarrassment he would usually feel at sniffing around, trying to find where and what the smell was. 

“This way!” He yelled, bounding off through the brush. 

Virgil was only just able to keep up with him, following down into a little gully. They both stopped short, seeing it at the same time. 

It was a human. A baby human. Or at most, a toddler. Laying in a pile of leaves, and not moving other than shallow breathing. It was hurt too, though there wasn’t blood, bruises trailing over its entire left side. 

“Is… is he ok?” Virgil asked tentatively. 

Roman shrugged, staring helplessly. 

Logan was the first to actually approach the baby, flapping noisily over to him and nudging him with his beak. The baby made a soft, weak keening sound, but didn’t open his eyes. 

“He is likely in need of nourishment, as soon as possible. We should bring him back home and find something he can eat.”

Roman nodded, scooping up the baby. He wasn’t trying to hold himself at all, just laying limply in Roman’s hold. Roman carefully shifted how he was holding the baby, making sure to hold his head up. 

They ran back home quickly, none of them very sure what to feed a baby, and hoping Patton would have some kind of answer. 

Patton, being a dryad, instantly suggested tree sap. 

Roman objected. “Patton, I don’t think a human—“

“You used to be a human. And you drink it.”

“Yes, but a baby, and a malnourished one at that—“ Logan said. 

Roman silently agreed. It was nothing against Patton, it was just that sap was weak and watery, and wouldn’t the baby need something to help him get strong?

“No buts. I’ll get something better, just start him out with maple sap. He’ll need the water, and the sugar will be good too.” Patton insisted. 

Logan let out an odd almost-sigh, but agreed. “Virgil, would you tap the tree?”

Logan went with Virgil, though not very far away. Roman was just left holding the baby, and not sure what to do, as Patton faded away, his shadow faintly seen flitting from tree to tree off into the distance. He felt awkward, and confused, and looked down at the baby, suddenly very aware of the way he was holding him, and wondering if it really was the correct way to hold a baby. 

“There’s not a lot yet,” Virgil said, handing Roman a small waterbag made of webbing. “It’s not really the right time of year for it.”

Roman sat down. Apparently he was feeding the baby too. His curiosity sure did put him in strange places sometimes. 

Logan landed on his shoulder. “Put the mouth of the bag into his mouth, and slowly tip it up. Keep going as he swallows, and try not to waste any.”

Roman tried following the instructions, but as soon as the liquid sloshed into the baby’s mouth, his eyes fluttered open, and he grabbed at the waterbag with weak floundering movements, batting and squishing the bag, fighting against Roman’s hold, trying to swallow as much as he could and hold the bag all by himself, which ended up spilling more than he drank. 

“Logaaan, what do I do???” 

“Take the waterbag away from him! You’re the adult here, don’t let him go and spill it.”

Roman pulled it away, and there was a brief moment of the most pitiful face he’d ever seen in his whole life, all wide, teary eyes and wobbly lip. And then the baby opened his mouth, scrunched his face up, and screamed. 

“Here! Here’s another one, give it to him!” Virgil said desperately, holding out another bag. 

But the baby was flailing, and Roman couldn’t get the bag into his mouth. 

“What are you doing to the poor baby?” Patton scolded, setting down a large bowl and taking the baby out of Roman’s arms. “Shhh, it’s alright. Virgil, fill a bag with that. Quickly.”

“What is it?” Roman asked, his nose wrinkling. It looked like milk, but smelled distinctly plant-like. 

But Patton was too occupied cooing to the baby and bouncing him gently. It seemed the correct way to calm a baby, rather than the fumbling Roman had been doing, and yet the baby only seemed to half agree, still sniffling with his face all scrunched up. Virgil handed Patton a bag of the milky substance, and Patton was able to pop the mouth of the bag into the baby’s mouth with little trouble. From there, it was only moments before the baby was happily and calmly drinking. 

They all let out a relieved sigh together, hoping the peace would last. 

  * •^*^••



It hadn’t been morning for more than a few minutes before it was clear that the peace would not, in fact, last. The baby was crying again, distinctly upset cries interspersed with babbled nonsense, and had pulled himself up to stand at the side of Roman’s bed, hitting at Roman’s arm. 

Roman scooped the baby up, and the baby wailed, curling up in his grip. Oh! His poor side. Roman tucked the baby against his chest, rolling onto his side, careful not to hurt the baby’s side any more. He reached backwards, rummaging blindly for the dried meat he kept by on his bedside table this time of month, and popped the end of a sizable piece into the baby’s mouth. If he could crawl over to him, he could probably eat whatever meat he managed to gnaw off the piece. 

The baby quieted quickly, biting and sucking the piece of meat, and showing off his few little teeth, holding it very firmly in his tiny hands. 

“Look at you, all fierce, aren’t you?” Roman whispered. 

The baby looked up at him, not relinquishing his grip on the piece of meat. 

Roman smiled, letting out a soft, rumbling growl. “Are you killing that meat?”

“Uuu. Ugh. Ughh.” The baby said, little noises sounding probably about as fierce as a human baby could make. 

“That’s right,” Roman said, again demonstrating a small growl. 

The baby’s sound, while far from a growl, was clearly an attempt to copy him. And that made Roman feel far prouder and happier than he would have expected. 

After a few more tries, it was clear that the baby was as close as he would get to growling with his little ughhh sounds. But he was copying Roman! And Roman couldn’t help smiling wide, growling at the little baby. 

“What are you threatening the baby for?” Virgil asked, his tone slow and drawling, probably from being up far earlier than he usually would be. 

But Roman’s joy couldn’t be dampened by Virgil’s grumpy teasing. “He’s copying me!”

“Oh? Are you secretly a werewolf baby?” Virgil asked, slipping into almost baby talk to address the baby instead of Roman.

“I don’t think he is,” Roman said. 

“Should he really be eating that, then? I’m going to get some more of Patton’s milk stuff.”

“He loves the meat! Look at him all happy.”

The baby tried again to make a growling sound, and Roman melted. “You are, aren’t you? You’re very happy here with the meat.”

Virgil rolled his many eyes, but didn’t quite hide the fond smile before he turned away to get the milk. 

And then Roman had to take the meat away, just for a bit, and the baby burst into loud wails immediately, flailing and hitting the bag of milk instead of accepting it. Somehow, Roman got the mouth of the bag into the baby’s mouth, but he seemed too upset to even realize it was food, and Roman didn’t want to choke him by tipping it up before he was ready. 

“Shhh, it’s ok,” Roman said, feeling more lost with every cry. “Just drink your milk and I’ll give it right back, I promise.”

It was not the clean, easy feeding Patton had had the night before, but the baby hopefully got enough of the milk inside of him to be worth it, and quieted down again when Roman gave him the meat to gnaw on again. 

Virgil sighed. “What are we going to do with him?”

Roman bristled. “We’re keeping him! Whatever humans he belonged to clearly didn’t care for him!”

“What if they did? He could just be lost, rolled down into the gulley and they couldn’t find him.”

Roman hugged the baby closer to himself. “Patton will agree with me. It’ll be two against one.”

Virgil sighed heavily. “I don’t want to fight about it. Just look for his parents? At least once?”

Roman very reluctantly nodded. 

Patton suddenly sat up and shivered, his eyes wide, and a sound like wind in leaves coming from him. “Virgil! Virgil, help! There’s a spider on my tree! I know there is. Help!”

Virgil rushed to Patton, scooping him up and quickly running out of the house. Any spiders on Patton’s tree had to be dealt with immediately, or he  _ would  _ become hysterical. 

They wouldn’t be back till afternoon, at least. 

Which left Roman the sole caretaker of the baby. 

Well, Logan had to be around somewhere, but there wasn’t much he could do to help other than give instructions. 

The baby was happy though, gnawing away with his few little teeth and getting slivers of meat to gradually come off. He was also more than damp, and a bit sticky. 

“Do I need to figure out how to bathe you now?” Roman asked. 

The baby babbled some nonsense around his piece of meat, as emphatic as it was unintelligible. 

“Oh, you have very clear ideas on how you’re taking a bath then, huh?”

The baby babbled again, so strangely close to normal words that Roman could’ve sworn he was saying ‘want some more’, except for the fact that he was currently very happy with a large piece of dried meat, and they were talking about baths, not food. 

While he was still trying to figure it out, Logan flew in from the open window, flapping loudly as if he didn’t quite know how to use his wings properly and quietly. Which, to be fair, he probably didn’t. He’d only been a crow for a few days, and it’d been a good year since he’d last been in a bird shape. Or, Roman supposed, it could just be that crows were loud birds. 

“How do you bathe a baby?” Roman asked Logan. “Just dunk it in the water? Do you need special soap?”

“I should hope you know better than ‘just dunking’ the baby into the water. That could be very dangerous. Though I believe the soap we have will be sufficient.”

“Well, then how do you do it? I only have two hands, and I can’t just wrap one arm around him without hurting his side.” 

Logan made an odd sighing noise. “He can sit up on his own, just put him in something shallow, and steady him with one hand.”

The baby only just then noticed Logan, squirming around to look at him curiously. He made a little sound, reaching one hand out to make grabby hands at him. 

“Aww, he wants to see you, Logan!”

“He does not. He wishes to touch me, which will mostly likely end unpleasantly.” Logan said primly, doing a little bird-shake that fluffed up his feathers and then smoothed them down again. 

But the baby was still reaching, making noises and grasping in Logan’s direction. 

“Oh, come on, you’d pass up the chance to be petted by a baby?”

“I do not enjoy petting in general, much less by one who is uncoordinated and almost certainly not capable of being sufficiently gentle.”

“Are you saying you’re scared of the baby?” Roman teased. 

Logan fluffed up angrily. “That is  _ not  _ what I’m saying!”

The baby’s little grunts stopped, and Roman bent down to see that he was giving Logan the most pitifully large watering eyes. And then he cried. Great, heart-wrenching wails as he curled up and rubbed at his eyes. 

“Oh, for the love of—“ Logan hopped into Roman’s lap, nudging at the baby with his beak. 

The baby sniffed pitifully, but stopped crying, grabbing Logan as if he were an oversized toy. Logan ruffled up in annoyance, but submitted to the baby’s pats and intense babbling, just keeping his head out of reach of the tiny hands. 

“Awwww, he likes you, Lo!”

And Logan couldn’t seem to muster up any disparaging words to join his grumble, which meant Logan liked him too. And Roman couldn’t help but smile. 

  * •^*^••



“We’re back!” Patton said cheerfully. “Everything’s alright now.”

“Welcome back!” Roman said, holding one of the baby’s little hands as he toddled around. He couldn’t quite walk on his own yet, but he seemed close. 

The baby looked up at Virgil, eyes wide and curious. “Ughh. Ughh!”

Virgil got a tiny grin he would probably forever deny as he scooped the baby up. “Are you growling at me? You can’t growl at me, you growl at Roman. With me you hiss, like this.”

The baby seemed to pick up the hiss even faster than the growl, though it devolved into spluttering raspberries half the time. 

“Ssssssssa!” The baby said, almost triumphantly, and then grinned up at Virgil. Virgil melted. He tried to pretend he wasn’t, but he absolutely was. 

“Awwwww!” Patton cooed. “Are you going to be so fierce? And so cute?”

The baby hissed at Patton, which just made him coo over him more. 

  * •^*^••



It had been a few days since they found the baby. He was now firmly a part of their family, though they hadn’t agreed on a name yet. 

The bruises seemed to be healing, or at least, changing. They were all confused to see the bruises morphing into a dark, mottling color. It was like nothing even Patton, the oldest of them, had ever seen on a human. It was strange, but it didn’t seem to hurt him. 

They kept him safely in their little cabin, and he’d been sleeping mostly in Roman’s bed, until Roman could finish the crib he’d started making. 

But it couldn’t last much longer. 

“I’m worried, Pat. I’ll shift any day now, and what if I can’t recognize him anymore? What if I… what if I hurt him?”

“You wouldn’t do that, you’ve never hurt one of us.” 

“But you’re all big! He’s so little, I could hurt him without meaning to.”

Patton’s mouth twisted as he thought. “Well, I don’t mind keeping him in my bed, but I don’t like the idea of you sleeping outside all by yourself.” 

“I could be dangerous to him! I could bite him, or try to run off and hide him, or I could just step on him the wrong way and—“

“No, you wouldn’t, you’re very good as a giant dog.”

Roman frowned. “You guys know how to handle me.”

Patton frowned at him disapprovingly.

“And if it’s the middle of the night you might not be awake before I find him,” Roman continued. “Even if he just wakes up while I’m shifting, he could be scared.”

Patton’s frown deepened. “Alright. For this first time, you can sleep outside, and we’ll be really careful introducing you two, but I’m positive you’re still going to love him and be just as careful of him as you are now. And next time you’ll definitely recognize him, and you’ll be inside, with all of us.”

“Only if this time goes well.”

“It will. I’m positive it will.”

  * •^*^••



Virgil woke up to a loud whine and scratching at the door. The baby was sitting right in front of it, patting it and trying to push it open, and that must be Roman on the other side, whining to get in. 

He picked up the baby, holding him carefully up on his shoulder, where Roman couldn’t reach right away, and then opened the door. 

Roman bounded inside immediately, jumping up to see the baby, tail wagging excitedly. 

“No! No, sit. Sit, Roman.”

Roman sat, but he was practically quivering with excitement, puppy eyes almost as effective as the baby’s were. And then the baby tipped forward, reaching and ‘growling’ at Roman. 

“Alright, alright, I’ll let you see each other, but be careful.” 

Virgil brought the baby down to Roman’s level, and Roman was immediately sniffing all over him, and then trying to lick the baby. Virgil nearly snatched him away, but the baby was cackling with laughter and patting Roman’s snout, clearly just as excited as he was. Virgil let out a relieved sigh. He’d just bathe the baby afterwards. 

“Well, this seems to have gone well.” Logan commented, landing on Virgil’s shoulder. 

“Patton will probably be mad to have missed it,” Virgil whispered with a chuckle. Once Patton was asleep, all awareness shifted to his tree, and he was dead to the world. 

He tried setting the baby down on the ground, and Roman bounded all around, nosing and licking the baby while he giggled and tried to grab Roman’s ears. 

Virgil sat down in the chair, still keeping a close eye on them. He would’ve thought that the baby might be scared of Roman’s over excitement.  _ He _ certainly had been the first few shifts. But the baby seemed to be just as excited, laughing and trying to growl. And Roman didn’t even seem to mind when the baby really did grab hold of his ear and hold on tight. 

Virgil should have kept a closer eye. Or guessed that something would happen. Or have sat closer. But he didn’t. He was just too relieved that everything was going well. 

And so he didn’t react fast enough when Roman picked up the baby by his shirt and whisked him out the door, trotting away quickly and ignoring all cries of ‘wait, stop!’

Roman just kept going, and while Virgil caught up before he could really get away, the instant Virgil reached for the baby he let out a low growl. 

“Roman!”

Roman flinched, and stopped, but still growled. 

“Put him down,” Virgil said sternly. 

Roman whined, but put the baby down. He did not, however, let Virgil get near him, standing over the baby and growling more whenever Virgil got too close. 

Virgil sighed, and sat down, folding himself to be smaller. “Look, Roman, I’d never hurt him. You know I wouldn’t. I’m part of your pack as much as he is. Hand him back. I won’t take him away.” 

Roman stood his ground, bristling up bigger, and even more menacing when Virgil was seated. 

But the baby proved to be more helpful, crawling towards Virgil. Roman didn’t want to growl at the baby, and just watched, getting more panicked the closer he got. 

Virgil sat as still and relaxed as he could manage, given the situation. “I’m not gonna hurt either of you, or try to separate you. Don’t worry, Roman.” 

Roman whined when the baby climbed into Virgil’s lap, but the baby just babbled happily, sitting and patting Virgil’s legs. 

Roman laid down, his snout resting in the baby’s lap. 

The baby did his little ‘growl’, patting Roman’s nose. 

Roman licked the baby’s face, and the baby giggled, tugging at his ears again. 

“See? We’re all good.” Virgil said, gently reaching out to pet Roman’s shoulder. 

Roman seemed to smile, and scooted a little closer. 

They’d be alright. 

  * •^*^••



“He needs a name,” Patton said. 

Virgil looked to where Roman was asleep on the floor, the baby tucked into his side, happily sleeping against the warm fur. “Shouldn’t we wait till Roman can help us pick?”

“If we do that we’ll end up with a positively absurd name,” Logan said. 

“I like Janus,” Patton said. 

“Janus?” Virgil said. “Why?”

Patton shrugged. 

Logan made a strange sound that wasn’t quite a sigh. “It appears we were going to end up with a strange name either way. Having said that, however, I am not opposed.”

Virgil shrugged. “Yeah, alright. I don’t mind it. It’s a bit weird, but so’s the kid.”

Patton grinned. “Then his name is Janus!”

  * •^*^••



“Janice???” Roman asked, practically wailing. “You not only named him without me, but you gave him an old lady name???”

“Not like that,” Logan said. “Janus. Like the old god.”

Roman pouted. “Well… that’s not so bad. But you still named him without me!”

Roman scooped up the baby, cuddling him close. “You are going to get an awesome wolf-name. And it’ll be a secret from these jerks.”

Virgil rolled his eyes. 

Patton held out his arms, and Roman passed Janus to him. 

“It would be good,” Logan said. “Before we get irrevocably attached, to attempt to find his parents.”

“It’s a bit late for that,” Roman murmured under his breath. 

“I can come with you,” Virgil offered. 

“What, right now?”

Virgil shrugged. “We might as well. We have time now.”

“... yeah, I guess so.”

  * •^*^••



When they came back the next night, they were extremely somber.

Virgil held out his arms, and Patton wordlessly passed him the sleeping baby. Virgil cuddled him so carefully and gently, folding around him protectively and lovingly, not even caring, like he usually did, that they were seeing him being ‘weak’. 

Roman sat down heavily, watching the two of them with wide, shiny eyes. “He’s ours, Pat. We’re never, ever letting anyone touch him.”

Virgil let out a violent hiss, and Janus startled, his face scrunching, but didn’t quite wake up. “Never. No one gets to him past us.”

“What happened?” Patton asked.

Virgil just shook his head, tucking Janus closer to his chest.

Patton looked to Roman. 

“It’s… better left unsaid. I think it’d be enough to say our guesses were right. He was cast out.”

“But he’s a baby!” Patton protested. “He can’t even talk yet.”

“And he’s ours now.” Virgil said firmly. 

“He’ll never be hurt again,” Roman said. “Not as long as we can help it.”

Patton nodded. 

“Can I hold him now?” Roman asked, reaching out. 

Virgil looked very reluctant, but passed Janus to Roman. Roman also practically curled around him, cuddling him close. 

There was a rustle as Logan, who must have woken up sometime, shook out his feathers and flew to Virgil’s shoulder. “I’m positive he’ll be safe and happy here with us, there’s no need to worry more about what happened before.” 

Virgil nodded. Patton held out his arms for a hug and Virgil tucked close, seeming all small now. Whatever it was, it must have really been bad. Patton was glad it was over. 

And he’d make sure it stayed over. 

They all would. 

  
  
  
  



End file.
